hotmtlnovel Chapter 22 No Way Out
Chapter 22 No Way Out
"Senior brother." Lu Mingfei stopped but didn't turn around. "Please tell the professor I'll come see him again this afternoon."
After saying that, he opened the door and went out.
The corridor was long and quiet. Lu Mingfei, supporting himself against the wall, walked forward step by step. His mind was racing with conflicting information: a descendant of the White King, not his biological son, Nuonuo has a boyfriend, the victor of a day of freedom…
Each one felt like a boulder pressing down on his heart.
He walked to the stairwell, slid down against the cold wall, and buried his head in his knees.
Sunlight streamed through the window, casting bright patches of light on the floor. In the distance, the tolling of bells drifted on, melodious and solemn, as if bidding farewell to someone.
Lu Mingfei closed his eyes.
He thought of his mother. The woman who was always so gentle in his dreams, but who was gone forever in reality. If Professor Guderian was telling the truth, if he really wasn't her biological son…
Why did she love him so much? Why was she willing to protect him with her life?
And then there's the father. The man who's always busy, always searching for a way to resurrect the mother. If he wasn't his biological son, why would the father hide him, protect him, and send him to Kassel?
These questions have no answers.
At least not now.
Lu Mingfei took a deep breath, raised his head, and looked out the window.
The sun is shining brightly, the sky is blue, and the clouds are white. The world keeps turning; it won't stop because of anyone's confusion or sorrow.
He has to move forward.
No matter what the truth is, no matter how difficult the road ahead, no matter what it will eventually become.
He has to move forward.
Because he had no way out.
"Brother," Lu Mingze's voice rang out again, soft and gentle, "You still have me. No matter what happens, I'll be by your side."
Lu Mingfei twitched the corners of his mouth, wanting to laugh, but couldn't manage it.
"Thank you," he said softly, though it was unclear who he was speaking to.
Then, he stood up, dusted off his pants, and went down the stairs.
His silhouette stretched long in the sunlight, lonely, yet upright.
Beyond the Golden Screen: The Real World
Nono sat in the Ferrari, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
She looked at Lu Mingfei's lonely figure on the screen, at his eyes that were always drooping but were now filled with confusion and sadness, and at the way he was curled up in a ball in the stairwell.
There's a sharp pain somewhere in my heart.
It turns out that in that future timeline, Lu Mingfei endured so much. The burden of S-class bloodline, the mystery of the White King's bloodline, the secret of his parents, and... the blow when he learned about her relationship with Caesar.
Those scenes were so real, so real, as if she had experienced them herself.
No, perhaps in some parallel world, she really did experience it. She really saw the sadness in Lu Mingfei's eyes, and she really made him bear so much alone.
"We can't wait any longer," Nono said softly, her voice firm as if she were making a vow. "We can't leave him alone any longer."
She turned the car key, and the engine roared to life. The red Ferrari shot out of the parking lot like an arrow, leaving a trail of water on the wet pavement.
She's going to find him. Now, immediately, right away.
No matter how much the future will change as a result, no matter what kind of butterfly effect it will trigger.
She was going to tell that loser in high school in China: Don't be afraid, I will find you. I will come to your side when you are most lonely. I won't let you bear it all alone.
Just as light finds darkness.
It was as if it were destined.
The car drove out of the gates of Kassel College and headed towards Chicago Airport.
Behind her, the golden light screen still hung in the night sky, the image frozen on Lu Mingfei's back as he walked down the stairs.
New subtitles appear below:
[The Mystery of Bloodline: Descendants of the White King?]
[Next Scene: The 3E Exam and Chu Zihang's Invitation]
The students and faculty of Kassel College looked up and discussed among themselves.
"A descendant of the White King? How is that possible?"
"But if he truly is a descendant of the White King, then everything makes sense..."
"No wonder the Word of Power 'Emperor' had no effect on him..."
"But weren't the White King's bloodline extinct long ago?"
"Perhaps... they weren't completely extinct."
Chu Zihang stood quietly in the crowd, his golden eyes reflecting the images on the light screen.
Lu Mingfei. A descendant of the White King. He can use incantations even under the suppression of "Discipline".
And... that kind of loneliness buried deep in one's bones.
He thought of his father, Chu Tianjiao, of that rainy night, of the unknown battle on the No. 0 overpass, and of Odin's eternal spear.
Before his death, his father told him, "Zihang, go quickly... don't look back... go find... Lu Lincheng's son..."
Lu Lincheng's son.
Lu Mingfei.
It turns out that Father already knew. He already knew about Lu Mingfei's special status, and he already knew that Lu Mingfei would come to Kassel.
Chu Zihang gripped the Murasame sword tightly. The scabbard was cold, but deep within the blade, something seemed to resonate, echoing the bloodline of the lonely boy on the screen.
"Lu Mingfei," he said softly, "we'll see each other again soon."
On the top floor of the office building, Principal Angers stood by the window, holding a cup of black tea that had gone cold.
He watched Nuonuo's car disappear into the night, looked at the images on the screen, and at the speculations about the White King's bloodline.
A deep-seated worry flashed in his silver eyes.
"The White King's bloodline..." he muttered to himself, "Lu Lincheng, what exactly are you planning? Is Qiao Weini's death really related to Odin? And your son... is he really the key?"
No one answered.
Only the night wind blowing through the ancient stone walls made a mournful sound.
It's as if they're crying in advance of the coming storm.
Beyond the Golden Screen: The Real World - Kassel College Square
The night was deep, but no one had left.
A golden light screen floated above the Kassel College Square, like the eye of a oracle in mythology, continuously playing images from the future. The rain had long since stopped, and the wet cobblestones gleamed coolly in the moonlight, reflecting the ever-changing images on the light screen.
The students stood or sat, some wrapped in blankets, some holding hot coffee, but their eyes never left the light screen. The professors gathered around Principal Angers, discussing in hushed tones the information that was mind-blowing—S-class freshmen, descendants of the White King, the use of Words of Power that disregarded the "commandments," and the layers of mystery surrounding Lu Mingfei.
"The White King's bloodline..." Professor Manstein, chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, adjusted his glasses, his tone grave. "If this is true, the Academy must reassess Lu Mingfei's danger level. The White King's bloodline is extremely unstable, and has historically caused numerous catastrophic events."
“But he passed Norma’s initial screening,” Professor Guderian—the real Guderian, not the one on the screen—argued. “Besides, Professor Lu Lincheng is on our board of trustees, and Ms. Jovini was one of the academy’s finest alchemists. How could their son possibly…”
"Bloodline doesn't lie." Professor Schneider's voice came through the oxygen mask, hoarse and cold. "If the light screen is showing the true future, then Lu Mingfei indeed didn't react to the Word of Power 'Emperor.' This means either he's not a hybrid at all—which is obviously impossible, since he used the Moment; or he's a descendant of the White King."
Principal Angers listened quietly, the cover of his silver pocket watch clicking as it opened and closed. His gaze swept through the crowd and landed on a solitary figure at the edge of the square.
Chu Zihang.
The boy who always kept to himself was now leaning against an oak tree, his golden eyes gleaming faintly in the night, staring at the figure of Lu Mingfei huddled in the stairwell on the screen. His expression remained indifferent, but the knuckles of his hand gripping the sheath of the Murasame sword were slightly white.
"Chu Zihang," Angers murmured to himself, "did you feel it too? That... resonance."
As one of the most outstanding hybrids in the academy in nearly a century, Angers deeply understands the mutual attraction between high-purity bloodlines. It is an instinct etched deep in their genes, like magnetic poles attracting each other, like flames seeking oxygen.
Chu Zihang and Lu Mingfei, two boys who should have never crossed paths, met in a dramatic way in the future shown on the screen—Lu Mingfei "killed" Chu Zihang with a Barrett rifle, completing the most amazing reversal in a day of freedom.
But that wasn't hatred.
Angers could see in Chu Zihang's eyes not anger at the enemy who had "killed" him, but a deeper, ineffable inquiry. It was as if Chu Zihang saw in Lu Mingfei something he had been searching for all along.
"Principal," Professor Schneider approached Angers, lowering his voice, "we need to discuss a solution. If the content of the light screen is accurate, then Lu Mingfei will be enrolling next year. We must prepare in advance—whether it's protecting him, or... controlling him."
Angers didn't answer immediately. He looked up at the screen, where the image was frozen on Lu Mingfei's lonely back. The boy had just learned that he might be a descendant of the White King, had just learned that Nono had a boyfriend, and had just learned that he carried an unimaginable burden.
"He's still just a child," Angers said softly.
"But he might be the key," Schneider said. "The key to unlocking those long-forgotten secrets. Lu Lincheng's research, Qiao Weini's death, even... the prophecy of the dragons' return."
Angers closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The night wind carried the scent of grass and earth, but also a sense of unease, as if a storm was brewing.
"Notify all board members," he finally said. "Call an emergency meeting. We need to decide... how to face this impending future."
"Yes." Schneider nodded and turned to leave.
Angers' gaze then turned to the other end of the square.
There, Caesar Gattuso was surrounded by a group of student council members. The blond student council president, arms crossed, stared grimly at the screen showing himself being shot down by Lu Mingfei. His pride had been shattered in public, and even in another timeline, even if it was just a game, it was enough to humiliate him.
But Angers noticed that there was something else in Caesar's eyes besides anger.
A kind of... liberation?
"Are you tired of it too, Caesar?" Angers murmured to himself, "Tired of the shackles that come with the Gattuso name?"
He knew that Caesar's relationship with his family had always been delicate. The Gattuso family was one of the oldest and most powerful families in the Secret Society, but also the most conservative and autocratic. Caesar's father, Pompey, was a dissolute, and his uncle, Frost, was an iron-fisted ruler. The entire family was like a sophisticated and cold machine, and Caesar was just one of its cogs.
Lu Mingfei's appearance is like a stone thrown into calm water; the ripples it creates may change many things.
Including Caesar's fate.
Just then, the image on the screen changed again.